The present invention relates to a sliding rail assembly for drawer and more specifically, to an auto opening mechanism used in a sliding rail assembly for drawer, which saves much installation space, can easily be operated to unlock the sliding rail assembly, and prevents a false action when a child touches the drawer accidentally.
A conventional auto opening mechanism for drawer is installed in the back panel of the desk. When the user imparted a pressure to the face panel of the drawer to force the drawer against the auto opening mechanism, the auto opening mechanism automatically ejects the drawer out of the desk. This design of auto opening mechanism is still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks.    1. Because the auto opening mechanism is installed in the back panel of the desk and aimed at the longitudinal central axis of the drawer, the user must push the center part of the face panel of the drawer when wishing to open the drawer. If the user pushes one lateral side of the face panel of the drawer backwards, the auto opening mechanism will not be actuated.    2. The auto opening mechanism occupies much inside space of the desk, thereby reducing the available inside space of the desk for the drawer.    3. When a child touches the face panel of the drawer accidentally, the auto opening mechanism may be actuated to eject the drawer out of the desk, and the ejecting drawer may hurt the child.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a sliding rail assembly auto opening mechanism that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. According to one aspect of the present invention, the sliding rail assembly auto opening mechanism is comprised of a holder block, a sliding hook a spring member, a rocker, and an actuating member. The holder block is affixed to the outer rail of the sliding rail assembly inside the desk, having two parallel sliding slots for guiding movement of the sliding hook. The actuating member is affixed to the inner sliding rail at the drawer, and works with the spring member to control the action of the sliding hook. The rocker is pivoted to a pivot in the holder block, having a front locating rod movable in and out of the guide-in groove, retaining groove, sliding groove and guide-out groove of the holder block. By means of the aforesaid arrangement, the drawer can be automatically opened when pressed, and then returned to the locked status when received in the desk.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a distance between the retaining portion of the retaining groove and the front side of the sliding groove ensures that the drawer can be unlocked and opened only when the sliding hook has been moved forwards over such a distance to have the front locating rod of the sliding hook be moved away from the retaining portion through the sliding groove into the guide-out groove. Therefore, the user must push the drawer backwards over such a distance to unlock the sliding rail assembly. This design prevents a false action of the sliding rail assembly when a child touches the drawer accidentally.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the sliding rail assembly auto opening mechanism does not occupy an additional inside space of the desk because the parts of the sliding rail assembly auto opening mechanism are mounted in the sliding rail assembly. Therefore, the invention saves much installation space.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the sliding rail assembly auto opening mechanism is provided between one side panel of the drawer and an inside wall of the desk, and the sliding rail assembly is automatically opened (unlocked) when the face panel of the drawer is moved inwards over a predetermined distance.